VALENCIA, Spain (AP)  Swiss syndicate Alinghi made it official, announcing Wednesday as expected that it will defend its Auld Mug trophy in Valencia, where it won one of the most dramatic finals in the event's history.

Alinghi beat Emirates Team New Zealand 5-2 in the 32nd edition of sport's oldest competition, which ended July 3. The Swiss team picked Valencia to host the Cup this year after beating the Kiwis 5-0 in 2003 to return the Cup to Europe for the first time since the inaugural race in 1851.

Also Wednesday, Alinghi owner and biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli announced Team New Zealand as the fourth challenger accepted for the next race — after South Africa's Shosholoza, Team Origin of Britain and "challenger of record" Desafio Espanol from Spain.

But the next America's Cup could be held before 2009.

Golden Gate Yacht Club, the home of BMW Oracle Racing, last week filed suit in the Supreme Court of New York — which has jurisdiction to settle all disputes in the competition. Golden Gate is seeking to replace Desafio Espanol as the official challenger of record for the next regatta and void already agreed-upon changes to the size of the boats for the next regatta.

A judge could also force Alinghi to sail against BMW Oracle in a best-of-three match. That regatta would likely be held next July in Valencia.

The "challenger of record" negotiates the race format and rules with the defending winner on behalf of all challenging syndicates.

In the suit, Golden Gate claimed that Desafio's yacht club was an "invalid challenger" and that the Swiss yacht club was "engaging in self-dealing" by accepting the Spanish challenge.

Bertarelli said he was "disgusted" by the lawsuit and criticized BMW Oracle Racing boss Larry Ellison, a Silicon Valley software tycoon.

"All the America's Cup community is held up by his lawsuit," Bertarelli said. "Actually, his performance this time around was the worst ever in the history of the America's Cup by an American team, so he wants to win in court."

BMW Oracle Racing, considered one of the strongest challengers, was eliminated in the challenger semifinals.

"You don't hold the event hostage and say, 'Negotiate with me,"' Bertarelli said. "Make this event better, and it's going to be hard to make it better than the last time. Don't try to win off the water. This is nonsense. Let's go. Keep the sport moving. Don't talk about lawyers and bankers. This is about sailors. I am disgusted by this attitude."

Bertarelli also defended Alinghi's plans to sail in the challenger selection series, although the syndicate cannot participate in the final, since that round determines the challenger for the America's Cup match. Bertarelli said that idea ties in with plans to limit each team to sailing just one of its boats at a time in an attempt to reduce the cost of two-boat testing.

"If we allow challengers to line up outside of the America's Cup venue, we would be in a great disadvantage because we would not be able to line up with anyone," Bertarelli said.

"If we participate in the challenge selection series, we take the same risk as any other team to be eliminated," Bertarelli said. "Not from the final match, but being eliminated and having no more opportunities to line up with anybody. If we lose in this challenger selection series, we'd be eliminated from the opportunity to test our boat, really."

Bertarelli pointed out that Alinghi sailed with the challengers in a series of regattas starting in 2004 and leading up to this spring's Louis Vuitton Cup.

"You can talk to Team New Zealand. They learned more racing with us than anybody else," Bertarelli said. "The challengers will benefit more."

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